Domesticated animals to include dogs may have feeding behaviors characterized by the swallowing of large amounts or hunks of food. Some of this behavior may be attributed to instinct, while some of the behavior may be attributed to the particular breed of dog and the environment in which the animal is fed. Additionally, a dog that swallows large amounts of food may be a function of how the dog is fed, it being understood that some pets are allowed to “free feed” while other animals are fed at regimented times during the day.
One problem associated with animals who swallow large amounts of food is that this particular feeding behavior makes the animal much more prone to aspirating some portion of the food. In some cases, the aspiration can be fatal. Aspirating a particularly large chunk of food may completely block the animal's airway, or may cause the animal to uncontrollably cough that can cause damage to the animal's heart and lungs, and then lead to serious injury or death.
For some breeds of dogs, the problem of aspirating food is compounded because the animal by instinct will swallow large amounts of food, and there are very few training techniques that are available to successfully prevent an animal from acting out this feeding instinct.
Because pet food bowls are typically open, foreign objects may inadvertently be dropped or carried into the pet food bowl. If a foreign object is covered with food, the animal may inadvertently choke on or aspirate the foreign object. Thus, further complications may arise from an animal's natural feeding habits.
While the small, dried, nugget-shaped type of dog food is less prone to be aspirated by an animal, many pet owners still purchase canned pet food and/or supplement the animal's diet with human food which may not be adequately cut into small pieces and remains in large chunks. Thus, under various circumstances, it is possible for an animal to gulp a large quantity of food and thus aspirate some portion of the food.
Because of the problem associated with aspirating food and the additional problem of choking on a foreign object mixed in the food, there is a need to provide a device that helps to prevent the animal from inadvertently aspirating the food, thereby controlling the feeding behavior of the animal. There is also a need to provide such a device that can be easily integrated with a standard feeding bowl used by pet owners